The present invention relates to an orthodontic pin, and more particularly to an orthodontic pin including an easily detachable connected pin body and fastening member that enables quick replacement of an elastic element connecting the orthodontic pin to orthodontic hook and brackets when the elastic element becomes loose due to any change in the position of a corrected tooth.
People who have the problems of snaggleteeth or malocclusion, particularly at the upper and lower incisors, would usually seek orthodontia treatment at hospitals or clinics for the purpose of corrective therapy or aesthetic surgery. Most dentists would generally recommend to the patients to correct malaligned or maloccludent teeth as soon as possible, so as to enable shortened time needed in orthodontia and obtain a highly stable correcting effect. In a currently most common practice of orthodontia, orthodontic pins are used with corrective wires, orthodontic brackets, and pull hooks to perform traction of teeth on a long term basis.
When using the orthodontic pin to correct malaligned or maloccludent teeth, the orthodontic pin and the crown of a posterior tooth are used as points of application to produce a traction force, so that an anterior tooth would turn about a point below a center of resistance indicated by the cross 23 in FIG. 3, which is normally the center of resistance for the six most front teeth, to incline inward only. Therefore, before the orthodontia procedure, an orthodontist has to find out the center of resistance 23 of the teeth to be corrected, incise the gum below the line A—A, drill a hole in the bone behind the gum, implant an orthodontic pin 1, such as the one shown in FIG. 1, into the hole in the bone via the incised gum, and then suture the incision on the gum.
Sutures are removed about one week later. The incision is examined for exact healing thereof after another one or two weeks. Thereafter, orthodontic brackets 2 are attached to outer surfaces of the teeth to be corrected, a molding wire 21 is tightly pulled and fixed in place, and a corrective wire 3 is used to connect a pull hook 22 pre-attached to the molding wire 21 to a groove 11 provided around a head portion of the orthodontic pin 1 (see FIG. 2), so as to pull the hook 22 toward the orthodontia pin 1. The corrective wire 3 is adjusted to a length corresponding to the required correction amount of the tooth.
As shown in FIG. 3, the corrective wire 3 extended between the orthodontic pin 1 and the pull hook 22 is used to pull the tooth to be corrected in a desired direction. In the event there is still another tooth to be corrected, another hole is drilled to implant a further orthodontic pin 1 into the bone behind the gum, and the same steps as described above are repeated to fix the corrective wire 3 between the groove 11 of the further orthodontic pin 1 and a corresponding pull hook 22 for the purpose of orthodontia.
In the above conventional orthodontia, the corrective wire 3 is connected to the orthodontic pin 1 and the pull hook 22 on the molding wire 21 by separately winding two ends of the corrective wire 3 around the groove 11 and the pull hook 22. When doing so, it is necessary to pull the molding wire 21 tight before the corrective wire 3 can be wound around the groove 11 of the orthodontic pin 1 and the pull hook 22. Moreover, tools for tightening the molding wire 21 and winding the corrective wire 3 are very small in size. Thus, it takes a prolonged time and great cares to perform the orthodontia, which becomes a laborious task for both the orthodontist and the patient.
When a period of time has elapsed after the orthodontia has been conducted, the teeth being corrected must be examined for their current conditions. The gradual correction of teeth in position results in gradual loosening of the corrective wire 3. That is, the corrective wire 3 is no longer tight enough to provide sufficient pull. At this point, the corrective wire 3 must be loosened and wound again. The time required to loosen and wind the corrective wire 3 again is even longer than the time needed in the first winding. Such adjustment of the corrective wire 3 does not upgrade the quality of medical treatment of the conventional orthodontia, but brings further discomfort to the orthodontist and the patent.
In the orthodontia using the conventional orthodontic pin 1, the molding wire 21 must be repeatedly tightened and the corrective wire 3 must be repeatedly wound. Therefore, increased treatment cost is required and the patent has to endure pain and discomfort in the course of tooth treatment.
In view of today's largely upgraded living quality, it is absolutely necessary to develop an improved orthodontic pin to minimize the patient's pain and discomfort in the process of correcting the malaligned or maloccludent teeth, either for necessary therapy or simply for aesthetic surgery.
It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop an orthodontic pin that includes a pin body and a fastening member detachably connected to the pin body, and is used with an elastic element to correct snaggletooth and malocclusion, so that the elastic element can be easily and quickly detachably connected to the orthodontic pin to facilitate quick replacement thereof when a condition of the corrected tooth causes change of tensional force provided by the elastic element.